


Simple Ends

by Anonymous



Category: Parahumans Series - Wildbow
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:22:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,225
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28679595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: In a different future, they are together.A fic written for the Cauldron Give-a-Fic-a-Thon event, Fic Santas, in December 2020, based on the promptThe Undersiders hangout and get drunk.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 30
Collections: The Cauldron Give-a-Fic-a-Thon, anonymous





	Simple Ends

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Flabbyknight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flabbyknight/gifts).



She shouldered the bag, hearing the small clinks as the bottles pressed together, even with some tissue paper stuffed in the way. The train behind her beeped as the doors closed, shuddering to life as it pulled off the station. Taylor strode across the tiled floor to the entrance staircase, walking left down the road. Slush crunching under her boots, the sidewalks salted enough to stop any ice from forming.

One man was playing little tappy games on his phone, zoned out to the world. A fly buzzed into the ear of a taxi driver, and the man flinched, waving his arms wildly. He missed.

Taylor knocked on the taxi window.

“Are you free?”

“Yeah, need to go anywhere?” his face was red, his fingers tight on the steering wheel.

“Downtown - near Patty’s Munch,” Taylor said, only taking a moment as he started to nod to pull the other door open. She settled in the seat with the bag at her feet, shutting the door with a bump as the car hummed to a start.

The driver seemed to notice she didn’t care too much about small talk, and the simple tunes of top 50s radio was enough for her. However good or bad the songs were. The train station wasn’t that far away from downtown, and the traffic was good.

He pulled up right outside where she said, and the ride counter dinged. Taylor glanced at it and handed him enough and more, shaking her head when he went to get change. She got out of the taxi, picking up her bag in one smooth motion.

No one was paying much attention to the woman walking down the street, head held high. Only when she was certain no one paying her attention did she beep herself into the building, walking down to one of the rooms before knocking.

There was a pause.

The door flew open, a man leaning on the doorway like he’d been there the entire time bothered to stand up a little straighter. “Do you have _the stuff?_ ” He dramatically whisper-shouted.

“Alec,” Taylor flatly said as he cackled and got away from the door, “are you tipsy already?”

“Absolutely!” he called as he flopped on a sofa.

“We’ve been keeping an eye on him,” Lisa sat up, resting her chin on a cushion to peer over her chair to look at her. Her hair was up, but a lot of wispy blonde pieces had fallen out, giving her a look that was more party than it was tired. That might have been the ear-to-ear grin as well, and Taylor returned it as she dropped her bag on the coffee table with a clunk.

Aisha cheered from beside her. It went to show how long they’d known her by now that no one jumped, and she tried to dive at the bag even while Taylor was opening it.

A bottle of gin and a bottle of something a lot sweeter were stolen instantly to go into the pile. An empty glass was suddenly in front of Taylor, a hand on her back as Aisha gave her finger guns.

“We’ve got loads of things open already,” Lisa waved her hand at _that_ pile, “It’s not like we needed to be careful with the cost - and Alec is picky.”

“I have the right to be,” he sniffed.

Taylor could hear the rolled eyes Lisa gave him for that, but took her time settling into her seat. She pulled the cap off a bottle of side with the handy opener resting near the bottles, and poured it into her glass.

“Aisha?” she asked.

“Yeah?” Aisha had pushed off Alec’s legs so there was more room on his sofa, and she looked up at Taylor with a glass bottle pressed against her cheek.

“Insect glass again?” her voice was dry.

Aisha just smiled, and then was too busy pressing the unopened, ice-cold bottle to Alec’s stomach. Taylor shook her head, touching the golden lines drawn on the glass given to her. Light shone through it with a yellow tinge, lighting up the little bees and ladybugs.

She took a sip and placed it down, watching as Lisa looked at her softly.

“I’m glad you’re back,” she said, finally giving up and pulling out the hair tie as talked.

“I barely go anywhere, I’m only out of town once a week.” Taylor pulled off her shoes to tuck her feet underneath her.

“Ah yes, _university Wednesdays_ ,” Lisa shook her head, “only you can be a part time student with this job, Hun.”

“I’m sure that’s not true. I still like it though,” Taylor sighed. She looked at Lisa, “Anyways, where’s Brian?”

“Brian’s getting takeout.” Lisa raised her glass, “chicken and pizza and fries all for us.”

Alec cheered at those words, “Pizza!”

“He’s going to get so much,” Aisha’s eyes sparkled, “we made him promise. Pineapple on one of them, too.”

“Disgusting,” Alec said.

Aisha hit him with a cushion. “You like _anchovies_ , you-”

“Rachel’s taking care of one last thing, she told us she’ll be inside in a minute.” Lisa waved a hand.

Taylor blinked, “Walking the dogs?”

“Yeah.”

Rachel came in before Brian, after they’d made a small dent in the drinks set out before them. A grey spotted dog bolted up to Taylor, wagging her tail so hard she vibrated with the effort. It took her patting the sofa before she jumped up to put her chin on her stomach, settling down there as if she belonged.

Taylor scratched her behind the ear, looking up to smile, mouth closed, at Rachel. The other dogs had gotten their own places to sit, one rolling around on the fluffy rug just near Lisa’s feet.

“Been too long,” Rachel told her.

“Yeah,” said Taylor, “it has.” She said it like it had been more than a couple of days, but there was no need to get a high-level thinker to realise how attached she was to her friends. Rachel bumped her cheek onto Taylor’s head before deciding to lay nearby with some of the spare pillows.

Brian was last, and both Alec and Aisha whooped. They’d gotten to the door before it had even opened, diving to it as they saw Brian’s car pull up through the window. Both were content with dancing around him as he brought what looked to be so much food, the takeout place had put in it a cardboard box. It was heavy enough Taylor could see his muscles flex through his shirt, and the food smelt heavenly.

“Oooh!” Aisha poked at some of the containers there, “good choices, good choices.”

“You said you would disown me if I didn’t pick them up,” Brian shook his head, “hey, Bug.”

“Hello,” Taylor raised her glass to him, feeling loose limbed and comfortable where she was. She also couldn’t move to wake up the dog cuddling with her, and he knew it too, stepping around the ravenous crowd to give her a hug.

“After that, I deserve a drink,” he said.

Behind him, Lisa attacked a piece of pizza like it had insulted her intelligence, and when she looked back he was drinking something from a mug shaped exactly like a cartoon skull.

She raised an eyebrow and Brian’s straight face cracked, ending with him laughing at her. Taylor rolled her eyes and drank.


End file.
